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Galapagos Cruise Report: Bartolomé and Santiago

From the National Geographic Islander in Galápagos August 30, 2010

We woke up this morning with a gorgeous sunrise at the island of Bartolomé. At 6:30 we started a heart-pumping walk to the summit of this small volcano. Once at the top we had a wonderful view of the famous Pinnacle Rock and its beautiful bay.

On the way up we had the opportunity to learn about some interesting geological features. This island is an open book for geology, and in my imagination it feels as though I’m almost on the moon. We returned to the ship at around 8:00 am and a well deserved breakfast was waiting for all of us. After breakfast, Carlos Romero, our Expedition Leader gave our guests a snorkelling safety briefing, and right after that we distributed the wet suits and the rest of snorkelling gear. It was amusing to see people eagerly trying to get in to their wetsuits with such enthusiasm. We headed towards the golden sand beach in front of the Pinnacle and practiced water activities. Water temperature was a little bit cold, around 67 °F but it was crystal-clear, so we had great visibility. All the efforts were worth it for we saw plenty of fish and we even spotted Galápagos penguins underwater! This flightless bird species remained with us for a long time.

At about midday, the ship went to Puerto Egas at Santiago Island. We arrived at around 3:00 pm, some guests went kayaking, some went swimming and afterwards we all got together and went for a hike around Puerto Egas. It was a marvellous afternoon; we saw Galápagos fur seals, Galápagos sea lions purposing like dolphins, lots of marine iguanas, pelicans and much, much more.

With a lovely sunset, we walked back to the black beach and then boarded the Zodiacs to return to the ship. We are all looking forward to tomorrow, for we are pretty sure it is going to be another wonderful day in paradise.